Christ in the Pentagon

[Dardedar]

DAR
This video is amazing, and disgusting.

Aroma of Jesus

Many are up in arms about the Christian Embassy's corporate promo Pentagon Christ-tacular video here, including the The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which is seeking an investigation.

Essentially: did Defense Dept. employees break the law by appearing in uniform, explicitly lending the military's name to the Christian group?

It should be noted that Jeff Sharlet was the first journalist to mention the existence of the video in this month's Harper's cover story.

They should, of course, litigate -- it's important.

But the question goes deeper. What happens to Christianity and Government (never mind the military...) when one strand of Christianity has unusual access to power?

Sure, this video is bound to end up an essential part of any atheist-porn collection, but it ought to be as frightening to Christians as to atheists, agnostics, Jews, Muslims, and Americans who oppose the state establishment of religion -- which this approaches.
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the rest

The comment section is worth reading too.

The Americans United for the Separation of Crutch and State have this response:

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The Wall of Separation
Official Weblog of Americans United

December 13, 2006
Military Missionaries: Christian Embassy Recruits Converts With Pentagon

The former White House lawyer who helped expose religious discrimination at the U.S. Air Force Academy, has again uncovered an effort to push evangelical Christianity in the military.

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation hosted a press conference Monday to air a 10-minute promotional video produced by the Christian Embassy, an evangelical group organized to bring government leaders “into an intentional relationship with Jesus Christ.”

Weinstein charged the six senior Pentagon officials who appear in the video in uniform with violating a host of military regulations and the First Amendment ban on government promotion of religion. The video, which was filmed inside the Pentagon, shows military officials “openly discussing their religious commitment and their strategy to bring religion into the military,” according to Weinstein’s press release.

For example, Major General Jack Catton praises the Christian Embassy for its work, saying it has helped him share his faith with people that come into his directorate.

“I think it’s a huge impact,” Catton continued, “because you have many men and women who are seeking God’s counsel and wisdom as we advise the Chairman and the Secretary of Defense. Hallelujah.”

more

I went to the Christian Embassy site. They must be feeling the heat. They have taken the video down:

"We are a non-political, multi-denominational ministry that has been caring for, encouraging and equipping our country’s leaders and decision-makers for nearly 30 years. We were founded by Washington officials, concerned business leaders and Dr. Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ International.
"Christian Embassy seeks to help diplomats, government leaders and military officers find real and lasting purpose through faith and encouragement. Out of respect for those we serve, we have removed the promotional video from our website until further notice."

Emphasis in the original.

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

As I have mentioned in other threads, my father's family came to America in the early 1700s with a group of Presbytarians emigrating from the "plantations" of Northern Ireland to escape the "church tax" which was collected by governmental employees and handed over to the Episcopal Church of England) archbishop/head of sect. You guys are well aware of some of the other problems - "blue" laws, etc. (Funny thing about the "war on Christmas" - the real war on Christmas was in 1646-1660 in UK Cromwell's puritans - fundies - outlawed any celebration of Xmas, singing carols, feasts, and even including forcing businesses to be open on Xmas. They backed off imprisoning people for private celebrations in their own homes after peaceful marchs of tens of thousands of people in various towns across the country on Xmas eve 1647.)